LAHORE, Aug 9: Provincial Law Minister Basharat Raja has rejected as baseless, misleading and malicious allegations made by Punjab Assembly opposition leader Qasim Zia against Chief Minister Pervaiz Elahi that he got written off bank loans of his industrial units.

In a press statement here on Tuesday, Mr Raja said criminal and civil cases would be registered against the PPP leader under the defamation laws so that the politics of lies could be taken to its logical conclusion.

The minister alleged that Qasim Zia was involved in Olympian Cooperative Housing Society scandal for which the cooperatives department had already issued him a notice after inquiry.

Since Mr Zia was about to be exposed, he levelled allegations against the chief minister as a preemptive move.

Mr Raja said the chief minister had got no loan written off and the banks had already issued certificates in this regard.